Bay County attracts hundreds of thousands of
visitors from all over the world each year to its
27 miles of sandy-white beaches on crystal-blue
gulf waters hiding sunken shipwreck treasures and
large pods of dolphins and temperate climate.

Named for the abundance of bays and bayous
covering 25% of the land, almost half of this
coast, including the 9-mile inlet of Crooked Island,
is undeveloped, bordered by Tyndall Air Force Base.

Most of Bay's cities cluster along the coast from
quaint, old-Florida Mexico Beach on its eastern
boundary west past St. Andrews State Park to the
more busy life of Panama City Beach with highrises,
nightlife and water parks.

Panama City's historic
commercial center, St. Andrews Waterfront Community,
was revitalized and renovated to maintain its small
village atmosphere with grants from the Florida Coastal
Management Program.

St. Andrews State Park, the state's largest park,
boasts 4.6 miles of undeveloped coast, and acres
of unspoiled beaches, dunes, pine woods and
marshes. Its amenities include: 176 camp sites
overlooking Grand Lagoon, two fishing piers, a jetty,
a boat ramp and two nature trails.

The more adventurous can take a boat off of Alligator
Point to the seven-mile barrier island,
Shell Island, surrounded by rock jetties, sea
grass beds, semi-tropical fish, such as angel and parrot
fish, and the clear waters of
St. Andrews Aquatic Preserve. The preserve is one of the
most diverse and fragile estuaries in North America, covering
25,000-acres that spread over three miles out into the gulf.
It encompasses the entrance to 69,000-acre St. Andrews Bay,
the largest body of water and expanse of seagrass in West
Florida. Over 2,100 marine species, among them horseshoe crab,
blue crab, stone crab, ghost crab, horse conk, sand dollar, and
starfish inhabit the bay. No major river flows into St. Andrews
Bay.

Camp Helen State Park looks over 650-acre Powell Lake, one
of the largest coastal dune lakes in the state. It is the site
of a 1930s-era lodge and cottages and 4,000-year-old prehistoric
mounds.